Cuttack: The vandalism at former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik’s statue at Mahanga in Odisha’s Cuttack district took a new turn on Saturday with two accused persons alleging the involvement of senior BJD leader and former Minister Pratap Jena in the incident.
The two, who have been accused of causing damage to Biju Patnaik’s statue, alleged that they committed the act in an inebriated state after being instigated to do so by a close confidant of Pratap Jena, a former Mahanga MLA.
The accused, identified as Nandakishore Mallick and Biswajit Mohapatra alias Raja, told reporters that Jena’s close aide Bismay Mohapatra alias Lalu called them for a drinking session. When they were highly drunk, Bismay asked both to damage Biju Patnaik’s statue
Identifying themselves as BJD workers, both apologised for vandalising the statue at the behest of Jena’s aide.
Notably, BJP had held a protest on Thursday alleging that the miscreants arrested for damaging the statue of Biju Patnaik in Mahanga are the workers of BJD.
The BJP workers had accused the BJD party of hatching a conspiracy to malign the state government. The protestors were holding photos in which the culprits arrested for the vandalism were reportedly seen with Pratap Jena.
“These photos prove that the accused persons are the active members of the Biju Janata Dal. At the behest of BJD president Naveen Patnaik and ex-Mahanga MLA Pratap Jena, they decapitated the statue of Biju Patnaik. BJD has hatched a plot to blame Bharatiya Janata Party,” alleged a protestor.
BJP workers also alleged that it is very shameful that BJD president Naveen Patnaik disrespected his own father Biju Babu by hatching the plot to damage the statue of the legendary leader.
